The 5 Mercers
by mandylynn34
Summary: The Mercer boys come home to find their mother's killer, and decide who will take care of their 16 year old sister. Follows the movie plot with slight deviations and an added character. I hope you enjoy and comment!
1. IntroductionThe 5th Mercer

Disclaimer: I do not own the story, the locations or any of the characters from Four Brothers.

"I thought you said that there were 5 Mercer boys. You've shown me Bobby, Jeremiah, Jack and Angel's missing. That's 4. Where's the 5th?" Fowler asked his partner.

"Joey." He said, seeing the crying 16 year old walk out of the house and onto the front steps.

"Where is he?" Fowler asked, following his gaze and looking for a delinquent teenager.

"Not he, she. Josephine Mercer. Her mother was a drug addict and her father was a rapist murderer. She was brought to the foster care office by her 7 year old brother when she was a year old. She tested positive for HIV so Evelyn took her in and her parents fled with the little boy. When she was 4, they realized that there'd been a mix up with the tests and that she didn't have aids, or HIV and that she was perfectly healthy, but it was too late for Evelyn to give her up. She was a part of the family." He explained.

"So she's not a delinquent?"

"No, but with her brothers, you can be pretty sure no one will mess with her. She can hold her own and the payback from those four…" he let his voice trail off, knowing what would happen if the Mercer boys found their mother's killer before the cops did.

"I meant does she have a record?" he asked.

"She had one actually, but it mysteriously disappeared. About 10 years ago, Bobby got a break-in on his record that he wasn't there for because he spent the entire night playing hockey in an arena filled with over 200 people."

"So she's a closet case?"

"She broke into her second grade classroom during Spring Break to feed the class Hamster and she stole a car to rush a gunshot victim to the hospital. We don't have to worry about her." He laughed, defending his favorite Mercer kid.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2-

I was in the backyard, entertaining my little nieces while Jerry made the food with Camille and the guests mourned my mother's death. The girls were so innocent and so oblivious to what was going on, that being with them almost made you forget, for about a half a second, before the pain seeped back in with the added bonus of guilt for almost smiling at her wake.

"Did you eat?" Jeremiah came and asked me, carrying a plate full of the foods mom used to make for us when we would stay up and wait for the clock to strike midnight on New Year's Eve. There were mini hot dogs wrapped in bread and bacon, devilled eggs, little meatballs and sandwiches cut into quarters.

"I'm good." I replied. I hadn't eaten since the night before, but I didn't feel particularly hungry.

"Joey, you have to eat. I made a plate for you and everything." He used the guilt card to make me take it. He has slowly been becoming more fatherly towards me, ever since he married Camille, but mom's death really put him into full on parental mode.

As soon as I took the first bite, I realized that I was actually quite famished. I sat in a chair and let the girls play with the dog while I ate. I was down to my last devilled egg when a guy's hand came out of nowhere and grabbed it.

"Hey!" I reproached before looking up to identify the culprit. My expression changed when I found myself staring at Jack, the youngest of my 4 brothers, who was smiling, his mouth full of my food.

I smiled and was truly happy to see him. He had arrived barely 5 minutes before the service started so I hadn't had time to talk to him yet. I stood up and hugged him, letting the familiar sensation of his big arms around me make me believe that everything would be okay.

"How've you been?" he asked, pulling up a chair. Unlike Jeremiah, who lives less than 15 minutes from the house we all grew up in, Jack is living it up with his band in LA, trying to get famous. I went down to see him over the summer, but we hadn't really talked much since.

Pretending the past few days hadn't really happened, I answered, "Tyler went back to his mom at the end of August and he seems to be doing good, from what his letters say. Amelia and Danielle are having a Christmas ballet recital in a few weels and Jerry's trying to renovate this old building to…"

"What about you?" he cut me off.

"I go to school, I tutor and I babysit. Nothing exciting." I told him although I knew he wanted me to tell him how I was feeling. The truth is that I was trying my hardest not to feel anything.

"Since when is stealing a car not exciting?" Bobby, the oldest asked, joining us.

"I think that you actually coming home tops that." I said excitedly, receiving a hug.

"Wait, the good kid rebelled and stole a car?" Jack asked, obviously thinking my exploits were more newsworthy.

"And she drove the stolen car without a license." Camille added sternly, not finding it as amusing as they did. She did a pretty good job of hugging them and giving her condolences without letting it show that she wished Bobby hadn't come. It isn't that she doesn't like him, he's just the one who is most likely to get the rest of us in trouble. She's been working very hard for years now to 'tame' Jerry.

"Explain." Jack urged me. Bobby was also all ears.

"She witnessed a drive-by shooting and hot-wired a parked car to get the guy they shot to the hospital. She was arrested just as the doctors got him on a stretcher." Jeremiah explained, seeing that I was turning red.

Jack and Bobby hugged Jerry while I asked Bobby, "How did you find out?"

"I caught up with an old friend outside." He said just as the only cop I actually trust walked up with his partner.

"I'm so sorry about your mother; she was an incredible woman." He told us.

Green looked like he knew that my brothers would try to take matters into their own hands. One of my teachers came up to talk to me so I didn't hear the plea he gave Bobby to not go after her killers, but it obviously didn't do much.

"Keep an eye on them and make sure they don't do too much damage." He asked me on his way out. I guess he knew Bobby would listen to him either.

"I'll do my best, like I always do." I promised him. Sometimes I succeed in stopping them, sometimes they convince me to let them do it, and every once in a while, I find myself tagging along.

"I'll see you around." Were his parting words as he left, with Fowler still following him, not saying a word. I couldn't wait for the wake to be over so I could go home to my room and make my brothers promise that they wouldn't send me away.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was past 9 o'clock when the last few people finally left. We, or at least I helped Camille clean up, kissed the girls goodbye and finally, Jeremiah drove us home.

"…We didn't even realize until the encore." Jack finished telling us about his last gig while we walked from the car to the front door.

"Well it's about time." A voice said from the shadows. I took out my key and opened the door to let my last brother, Angel, in from the cold. He took me in for a hug before doing the same to the 3 others.

I watched the four of them, acting and looking exactly like brothers, even though Angel and Jeremiah are black, but Bobby, Jack and I are white. When you put them together, the color just doesn't matter. All 4 of them tower over my 5'4'' frame and they all have this rugged, bad boy, Marlon Brando/James Dean look.

Bobby is the oldest and I think we all kind of look up to him in our own way. He was the first foster kid Evelyn wasn't able to find a home for and he was with her the longest. He used to be a pretty awesome hockey player, but he lacked discipline and no one really knows what he does now. He doesn't come home that much anymore, and his letters are few and far between. I was really mad at him for that for the longest time, but mom would say that his being able to get by on his own, without her, meant that she had succeeded in her job as a mother. I still wish she had done her job a little worse.

"Come on Joey; tell me what they're up to." Green asked me when he came over. Only Sofi and I were there because Jeremiah had gone home and Jack, Bobby and Angel were 'out'.

"They haven't seen each other in years, because we all know how hard he is to track down, so they're taking advantage of the circumstances and bonding. My guess is that they're playing hockey." I lied, a talent I'd acquired from my 4 brothers and some of the other strays my mom would take in. I could tell Green didn't believe me. He was my favorite cop in all of Michigan. Since he'd grown up with Bobby, he knew how things worked and he knew when we were lying but often let us get away with it. He protected his people, even if it meant from the law.

"When they get back, tell Bobby I'd like to talk to him." He requested. Fowler stayed silent but glared at me. I'd never really liked him.

"Will do." I assured him. He left right before Sofi came down the stairs and rushed out the door. I had the strange feeling that she was going after Angel but at this point, there was nothing I could do. The truth was that my brothers had gone to see our mom's lawyer to find out what he knew. I had the feeling that breaking and entering as well as assault could be on their records if they were caught.

The boys came home with Sofi around 11. They were arguing a bit, angry at "La Vida Loca" for interrupting their investigation. Bobby came to find me in my mom's room. I was sitting on her bed with all of the photo albums scattered around me.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked, sitting beside me on the bed.

"The house was so quiet. It seemed strange not to hear her singing or playing a record so I came to get The Temptations, but the pictures caught me off guard." I admitted since the albums had already been like this when I'd come in. "She was seeing him, wasn't she." I asked.

"Yeah, she didn't tell you?" he inquired.

"Nope." I answered. I'd known she was seeing someone, but I'd never figured out who.

"Did she tell you about the police report?"

"What police report?" My question answered his.

"For Jeremiah and the bad guys he got mixed up with."

"He got mixed up with Sweet?" I asked, cutting him off.

"Come on Joey, I thought you were in on everything and could give me all the dirt." He reproached.

"I knew mom was seeing someone but it was none of my business so I didn't ask who. I figured she'd tell me when she was ready, but I had my doubts that it was the lawyer. I knew Jerry was having problems with a council man named Douglas who worked for Sweet. Jerry wouldn't sell his soul to the devil so they shut him down." I defended my knowledge of the happenings of our small and corrupt community.

"We saw him with one of Sweet's men. He gave him money." He shared.

"There has to be a reason; Jerry isn't crooked." I defended.

"He's coming over tomorrow, we'll find out then." Was all Bobby could say.

"Don't hurt him." I warned. "See you tomorrow." I said as I left.

"Where are you going?" he asked when I went right instead of left to my room.

"We're watching a movie." I explained. Jack and I used to watch movies in his room whenever mom was out saving helpless souls.

"What movie?" Bobby asked.

"Gone with the Wind." It was mom's favorite movie, even though you'd never expect it to be.

"Got room for one more?" he asked.

"Sure." He followed me into Jack's room, which used to be his, and we all squished onto his single bed.

It was funny that we'd ended up together. Jack and I have the same mother but Bobby and I have the same father. It's strange how a false positive test can change your life the way my AIDS test did. When Jack brought me to the social services office to save me from our step dad, I thought I'd never see him again. Instead, he showed up a few years later and he and Bobby recognized each other from when their parents got together and had me, before my dad murdered someone and fled the country. Bobby was brought to Evelyn's and my mom found a new boyfriend to pay for her addictions, this one with a penchant for young kids.

I was half asleep when the movie finished and Bobby had fallen asleep an hour into it. (We had all seen it many times before) Jack left him the bed and carried me into my queen size one. He put me down and tucked me in. "Sweet dreams babe." He said before kissing the top of my head.

"Stay." I asked, barely awake, unable to open my eyes.

"Okay." He relented, climbing in with me. It didn't seem like any time had passed before Bobby came in, looking for Jack.

"He's here!" Bobby called. I guess he freaked when he woke up in Jack's bed with Jack gone.

"Breakfast is ready!" Angel called and I could smell the pancakes and bacon. I decided to go down and enjoy a peaceful breakfast until Jerry arrived and the accusations started.


	4. Chapter 4

"Jack!" I screamed when I heard the gunshot. I made a run for the door, letting go of Bobby, who I was trying to pry off Jerry. My oldest brother caught me by the midriff when I was halfway to the door, sending me to the couch before doing exactly what I was trying to do. Pretty soon, the entire house was under fire while I called an ambulance.

Jerry brought me to the kitchen since the shots were coming from the front of the house, so I took a pot and brought it to the front as soon as he left me to go out the back door. Bobby and Angel each had a gun and Jerry was now in the car, so I hit the guy who was on his way to Jack over the head, took his gun and ran to my brother.

"Oh my God! It's going to be okay Jack, I'm here. Don't leave me, okay? Stay with me Jack, please stay with me." I pleaded. I had his head in my lap and was holding his hand. He was shot in the chest and his mouth was full of blood, just like when the younger brother dies in "Legends of The Fall". I refused to let that happen to my brother.

A few minutes after the others got there, he passed out. His convulsions were the only sign that he was still alive. Jerry and I rode in the ambulance with him while Bobby and Angel talked to Green. Fowler was MIA.

When we got to the hospital, the doctors wouldn't let us go in with him. He had two bullets in the chest and one in the leg. The EMT guys said he wasn't looking good but I was not going to give up on him.

Bobby and Angel showed up after they'd brought Jack to the OR. I thanked God for the love and respect the doctors had for my mother because I knew there was no other reason why they'd try so hard. And they probably would have let us in, covered in blood like we were.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"You're my brothers; that's all I have left." Bobby was saying when I came back from getting us coffees.

"What are you planning on doing?" I asked, joining them. Jack was out of the OR and in his own room now but he was still in a coma. The doctors told us we just have to wait and see if he wakes up, which they think isn't likely.

"I thought you were the peaceful, non-violent one." Angel asked.

"That guy made his men shoot my brother and we don't even know if he'll ever wake up. These are extenuating circumstances." I told him, barely containing my anger.

They told me their plan but warned me that I was to stay in the hospital with Jack the entire time, which suited me fine because I wanted to be there when he woke up.

They forced me to go home to shower and sleep at 10 o'clock, when visiting hours were up, but I had Angel drive me back as soon as I was allowed in, at seven the next morning. I held Jack's hand and talked to him and to his doctors all day, worried sick about all 4 of my brothers, especially since Green was dead. His funeral had been the day after the shooting and we'd all gone, everyone except Jack. Now all I could do was wait while everyone I love had their lives hanging in the balance.

It wasn't until 6 o'clock that Jeremiah, Angel and Bobby showed up with Sofi and Camille. Bobby took me in his arms and promised that it was all over now. All 3 of them were pretty banged up, but Camille told me it was the cops in the interrogation room who did it, not Victor Sweet or his men.

We all stayed at the hospital for the next few days. Camille and Jerry left every once in a while to take care of the girls, and Sofi went out to get us food, but other than that, we all stayed in his room or in the hall. I had my reserved seat at his bedside, where I could hold his hand, and I never left. I slept there, ate there, basically lived there.


	6. Chapter 6

I was asleep with my head on the side of his bed, 2 days after Victor Sweet's demise, when I felt something move. I figured it was Bobby or Angel so I looked up slowly, but Jack's eyes were open. He tried to talk but the tube they'd put in his throat to intubate him stopped him.

"I need a nurse; he's awake!" I called, moving towards the door, as close as I could without letting go of his hand. A bunch of doctors walked in and made us leave, but he was awake. Bobby took me in his arms while we watched through the windows.

They did all kinds of tests and constantly monitored him before finally admitting that I was right, he'd come back to us.

"I told you so." I said happily when his main doctor walked by us.

"I should have known not to argue with a Mercer. Defying laws and being reckless are like your motto." He said, just as happily. Dr. Maruco had been one of mom's strays that she'd taken in right before Bobby. A nice family had adopted him soon after Bobby's arrival and put him through med school, but he'd come back to Detroit in honor of the woman who'd saved his life.

"Thank you." I said sincerely, unable to convey how much Jack meant to me. He just nodded before walking away, but I would forever owe him for saving my brother's life.

"Can we go see him?" I asked one of the last nurses to leave his room.

"Go ahead." She told me.

I walked in slowly. The tube was no longer in his mouth but he had the oxygen thing in his nose. "Hi." I said quietly, wiping away a stray tear.

"Come here." He said weakly, his voice kind of raspy, slightly moving his arm.

I rushed over to my seat and wrapped my arms around him as gently as possible. "I was so worried about you Jack. You've been in a coma for two weeks and everyone was saying you wouldn't wake up." I told him, feeling like so much weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I didn't realize how constrained I'd been until I finally let myself breathe.

"But not you, you've been talking my ears off for days." He said.

"You heard?" I asked, surprised and not sure I believed him.

"I caught bits and pieces every once in a while." He admitted.

I got out of the chair and cuddled in the bed beside him while the others came in to say hi and welcome him back to life.

After a while, the doctors told us to let him rest so we went home, light hearted because we now knew he was going to make it. We were the 5 Mercers again.


End file.
